Wringer attachment for receptacles



y 1954 R. A. DELMAS 2,679,067

WRINGER ATTACHMENT FOR RECEPTACLES Filed Aug. 9, 1948 Patented May 25 1954 UNITED. STATES FA'E'LENT GFFI CE WRINGER ATTACHMENT FOR RECEPTACLES Robert Ar-Ilelmas, Hattiesburg, Miss.

Application August.9, 1948, Serial No. 43,330

1 Claim. 1

The present invention in its broadest scope relates to a household appliance, and in its more limited aspect has reference to a wringer device for mops and the like which may be readily and easily attached to or detached from a pail, bucket orsimilar receptacle for holding a liquid solution.

It iswell known that a mopping process requires that'the mop head'be frequently subjected to a wringing step to remove the unclean solution therefrom and in most instances, this has been accomplished by the use of the hands. The main "objections to this procedure is the harmful'effect of thehot cleaning solution on the hands, such as, the possibility of fungus infection and also because the mop cannot beproperly d-r'iedi Another bad feature is that the manual wringing requires bending or stooping and, of course, this is very tiring physically.

Attempts have been made to provide wringer assemblies for buckets which will overcome the defects of the hand wringing method and in the main, these assemblies have been rather satisfactory. However, most of the devices currently in useform an integral part of the bucket or pail which renders the bucket not usable for other purposes. In addition, this type of construction raises a problem in connection with replacement and repair of the wringer assembly.

Accordingly, an important object of my invention 'is to provide a wringer assembly for use with receptacles which will overcome the objectionable features now present in the art.

Another object of the present invention is to providea wringer assembly having incorporated therewith novel means whereby the assembly may be easily and quickly secured. to any type of receptacle and whichwill maintain theassembly in the proper position on the receptacle during use;

Yet a further'object of this invention is to provide'a wringer assembly wherein the means for attaching the assembly to thebucket in proper position is simple in structural detail and which forms an integral part ofthe assembly.

And still another object of this invention is toprov'ide a mop wring-er assembly of the character described which includes few essential parts,'which is positive and efiicient in operation and which can be cheaply and readily manufac-- tured.

With the foregoing and other objects in View,

the-invention consists in the details Of'COHStTUC- tion; and in the arrangement and combination of parts :to "be. hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed;

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings formingpart of this application, wherein like numerals-denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which:

Figure l is a View in side elevation showing the wringer assembly attached to the upper end of a bucket, the bucket being in section.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the assembly shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the wringer v assembly showing the means for attaching the assembly to the bucket.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the blank forming the wringer assembly.

With reference to the drawings and more particularly Figure 1, I have-shown a bucket I0, a wringer ii and securing means If. whereby the wringer is attached to the upper open end of the bucket.

The wringer 'i 1 comprises a blank I3 preferably of steel, which when assembled, provides an inverted conical unit [4: The unit I4 is formed with a plurality of rows of ciroumierentially aligned apertures iii of equal diameter. In assemblingthe unit it, the free edges of the blank may be welded, brazed or otherwise conveniently secured.

I have ascertained for ideal operation, the unit it should have a 5 inch diameter at the upper end, a inch diameter at the lowerend and the overall length should be 6 inches. This affords a. very compact assembly and permits its use with the majority of conventional buckets and mops. Of course, I realize that the dimensions are subject to changes depending upon the particular situation encountered but in most instances, it is felt that awringer so constructed will give the best results.

The securing means i2 includes a rod 16 which is attached to the unit it adjacent the upper end thereof. As best depicted in Figures 1 and 3, the rod it is substantially U-shaped and each free end I1 is welded,- brazed or soldered to the unit It oneach side of the center line as shown at IT. The rod projects horizontally from the unit it as shownat l3 and is then bent downwardly at right angles to the portion ill as indicated at E9. The arrangement is such that the portions l8 will'rest on the upper edge of the bucket and the portions Hl'together with web is will be exterior ofthe bucket.

The securing means 12, in addition to the rod construction it comprises a stabilizing member 2! which 'coacts with the rod It to attach and maintain the'uniton'the upper end o-fthe bucket.

The member 2! consists of a pair of rod-like elements 22 suitably afiixed to the unit I l and since each element is similar in structural detail, the description will be confined to but a single element for simplicity purposes. The element 22 is connected at its lower extremity to the conical unit 14 near the open bottom as illustrated at 23 by welding or brazing and extends outwardly horizontally as indicated by the numeral 24. The rod-like element 22 is then bent at a 90 angle with respect to the horizontal portion 24 as at 25 and the free end is welded or otherwise fixed to the unit M as at 26.

As will be seen from Figures 2 and 3, the distance between the secured ends of rod i6 is about equal to 90 degrees of the circumferential length of the conical body member 14. Since member I8 is of U-shape contour, the laterally extending supporting zones l3 and the vertical legs of the rod formation have the same distance spacing, the length of the zones l8 being such that when the wringer is in the mounted position, the portion l4 becomes actually spaced inward of the receptacle, as presently explained.

Members 22 (Figures 1 and 3) are of L-shape contour, with the longer legs extending vertically and substantially parallel to the axis of the body portion M, as do the legs of the element iii. The position of the members 22 relative to the element I6 is such as to locate both members 22 as lying intermediate the positions of the vertical legs [9 of the element !6, being substantially symmetrical thereto, so that the distance spacing between the vertical legs is somewhat less than the spacing distance of the legs of element l6.

Since the length of the laterally extending portions i8 is greater than the thickness of the bucket walls, when the wringer is placed in position, its weight will cause the body portion to pass to the position shown in Figure 1, in which the bucket rim engages the bend junction between I8 and i9, doing this with respect to both legs l9, as indicated in Figure 3. As the members 22 are secured to the body portion a sufficient distance below the top to define the inward spacing shown in Figure 1, the contact between members 22 and the bucket will be limited to the zone of the bend between the legs of the member as shown in Figure 1. While the taper form of the bucket would tend to accentuate this condition, if the bucket diameter were uniform instead of tapered as shown, the same type of contact would be present.

From this it will be understood that while the wringer is completely and firmly supported for complete service, the actual contact between wringer and receptacle is limited to the contact between the contacting portions l8 and the receptacle top wall, and the contact of the angle junction portion of the members 22. Since both 16 and 22 are of rod form, the contacts will be more or less of a spot type and will be unaffected by actual service, since pressure applied on the upper surface of the wringer would simply increase the pressure being applied at such contact points and provide no disturbance thereof.

In other words, the supporting and positioning relationships between the wringer and the receptacle are established by and limited to the pair of angularly spaced contacts at the top of the bucket (i8), and to the pair of spot contacts internal of the bucket below and remote from the top of the bucket being the angle juncture of the members 22, the latter contacts being spaced a less distance apart than the contacts l8 and disposed symmetrically with respect thereto. This is true whether the bucket is of taper form or of uniform diameter. If the diameter is uniform, the axis would incline slightly toward the right in the upward direction, without, however, disturbing the efliciency of the wringer for service.

Hence, whether the bucket be tapered or of uniform diameter, the structure will be operative under maximum efiiciency conditions. The limitation as to the contact areas possible, due to the rod form and the particular arrangement of the members 15 and 22 not only permitting the assembly to operate with either type of bucket but also providing the assembly to be cheaply made, simple to position and to remove from the bucket.

It can be seen that when the unit I4 is placed on the upper end of the bucket, the horizontal portions it of the rod IE will lie on the rim of the bucket, and the portion 25 of each rod-like element 22 will engage the inner surface of the wall of the bucket thereby cooperating with the rod 16 to clamp the unit to the bucket and at the same time space the wringer inwardly a small distance from the wall of the bucket. Hence, the wringer may be quickly clamped to any type of receptacle and will remain in the desired location during use.

By virtue of my invention, it is manifest that the wringer is uite simple in constructural detail and yet sturdy enough to stand the strains imposed thereon during use. The mode of attachment of the securing devices to the conical body provides a substantially integral assembly thus reducing to a minimum the possibility of the securing means becoming detached from the body.

As hereinabove pointed out, the wringer I! is of steel and I have ascertained that the best re sults are accomplished when the blank is either stainless steel or galvanized steel.

I claim:

A removable wringer attachment for open top liquid receptacles of circular contour, said at tachment comprising a conical foraminous body and having its axis extending substantially vertical with its top presenting its major diameter, the outer face of said body having a U-shaped supporting element of relatively small circular crosssection secured at its ends to such outer face adjacent the top margin of such body, each leg of the element including an outwardly extending zone adjacent the secured end with the inter mediate portion of the element extending an gularly downward relative to the plane of such zone and parallel with the axis of such body, the exterior of said body additionally having a pair of members of relatively small circular crosssection and of L-shaped contour secured at their ends to such exterior with the upper ends positioned on a plane below the securing plane of the element ends and with the longer leg of the member also extending parallel to the body axis, the span distance between the legs of the element being substantially equal to a degree are of the body periphery, the span distance between the longer legs of the additional members being less than the element span distance, the member positions being intermediate the positions of the element legs and symmetrically disposed relative to said element legs to thereby provide a supporting and positioning relationship between the receptacle and the wringer established by and limit ed to a pair of angularly spaced contacts on the top of the receptacle and a pair of angularly References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Foley Aug. 28, 1899 Scheets June 22, 1909, Lagemann May 5, 1925 Bonnell Sept. 8, 1925 Number Number Name Date Heber Nov. 1, 1932 Schulman July 18, 1933 I-Iowlett June 6, 1939 Norrick Feb. 24, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain of 1908 Germany Apr. 10, 1906 Great Britain July 21, 1927 

